Chicken-beheader



(No Model.)

J. G. DENHAM. CHICKEN BEHEADER.

No; 507,792. Patented Oct. 31,1893.

W/TNESSES.

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nvvnvron I QM Y. BY J //@M6 A TTORNEYS.

- NITED STATES PATENT OFFIC JOSEPHUS o. DEN'HAM, on s'r. LOUIS,MISSOURI.

CHICKEN-BEHEADER.

srncrmon'rron forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,792, dated October31,1893.

Application filed June 30, 1893.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OSEPHUS O. DENHAM,

of St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a new and ImprovedOhicken-Beheader, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

A great many people find it necessary to kill poultry occasionally andin a small way, and among such people it is the practice to either wringthe neck of the chicken or other fowl to be killed, or to chop off itshead with an axe or hatchet. Bot-h operations are trying to thenerves'of sensitive people, entail torture on the creature killed, andare very likely to cause the spattering of blood upon the clothing ofthe butcher.

The object of my invention is to produce a very cheap and simple devicewhich may be quickly and neatly applied to the neck of a, chicken, orsimilar creature, which may be operated by the simple pulling of atrigger, and which, when operated,severs the head of the chicken withcertainty, neatness and dispatch without in any way torturing thechicken, shocking the nerves of the operator, or injuring the clothingof the latter.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of constructionand combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification,; in which similar figures of reference indicatecorresponding parts'in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the implement embodying my invention.Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section ofthe device, and Fig. 4: is a cross section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 3.

The beheader is provided with a barrel 10, in which the main spring ofthe implement is incased, and the barrel terminates at its front end ina depending hook or flange 11 which may be hooked upon some object so asto steady the implement when it is used, but which is especially usedfor setting the instrument by hooking it upon some object which enablesthe plunger to be pulled against the tension of its spring,ashereinafter described. At its rear end the barrel enters the breechblock or clamp 12, which is in two parts shaped to fit snugly upon thebarrel and hav- Serial No- 479,272. (No model.)

ing flanges 13 at the bottom, which are bolted together, and flanges 14at the top which project upward sufficiently high to form guides for theknife and a support for the neck of a chicken or other fowl, asdescribed presently. The flanges 14 are separated at their ends by ribs15 which hold them the necessary distance apart to provide for thesliding of the beheading knife. The flanges 1 1 are recessed in thecenter, as shown at 16, which recess is large enough to permit the easyinsertion of the neck of the chicken or other fowl in it; and thebeheading knife 17 slides across this recess and between the flanges, sothat when thrown forward, as hereinafter described, it severs the neckwhich may be in the recess. This knife is preferably arranged at anincline to. enable it to have a shearing out so as to more easily severthe neck of a fowl; and it slides in a slot l7 in the top of the barrel,being secured at its inner end to a sliding plunger 18 which moveslongitudinally in the barrel and which has an elongated shank 19,preferably in the shape of a cross when viewed in cross section,although this is not necessary, and the plunger and its shank arenormally thrown forward by a spring 20 which is coiled around the shankand which is secured at one end to the shank and at the other to thebarrel 10. In the front end of. the barrel is acushion 21 against whichthe shank 19 strikes when propelled forward, and this cushion absorbsthe shock occasioned by the sudden stopping of the plunger and it alsolimits the forward movement of the plunger and knife and prevents theedge of the latter from being dulled on the ribs 15. The plunger 18 andknife 17 are pulled back against the tension of the spring 20 by meansof the handles 22, the shanks 23 of which project through the slide inslots 24 extending longitudinally through the sides of the breech blockand barrel, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 4:.

In the plunger 18, near its forward end, is a notch 25 which receives apawl 26 0n the front end of a curved trigger 27, this being pivoted atits elbow, as shown at 28, and arranged to swing behind a triggerguard'29 and in front of a handle 30, which is substantiallylike thehandle of 'a pistol, and within the handle is a spring 31 which pressesagainst the lower end of the trigger and therefore presses the pawl 26into engagement with the notch 25 in the plunger.

When the device is to be used, the operator places the hook over someconvenient support and pulls back on the handles 22 until the catch orpawl 26 engages the notch 25 in the plunger 18, and this holds the knifeback between the rear ends of the flanges 14 and the spring 20 in anextended position. The operator then grabs, with one hand, the legs ofthe chicken to be beheaded, while he holds the beheading tool in theother hand, and he next places the neck of the chicken in the recess 16of the flanges 14- and pulls thetrigger 27. The instant the trigger ispulled, the pawl 26 is withdrawn from the notch 25 and the spring 20throws the plunger 18 and knife 17 violently forward and the knife, asit passes through the recess 16, cuts off the neck of the chicken.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. Atoolfor beheading poultry, which comprises abarrel having a lateral projection, 14, a spring and sliding plungerwithin said barrel, a knife attached to the plunger and projectinglaterally into the position to adapt it for coacting with said flange,and a device for locking and releasing the plunger and knife, as shownand described.

2. A beheading tool,comprising a barrel, flanges projecting laterallyfrom therear end of the barrel and provided with a recess to receive theneck of achicken, a spring-pressed plunger mounted in the barrel, aknife carried by the plunger and held to slide between the flanges andacross the recess, a locking device to hold the plunger and knife at therear end of the barrel, and a trigger mechanism for releasing theplunger and knife, substantially as described.

3., A beheading tool, comprising a barrel having a hook or flange at oneend anda handle atthe other, a spring-pressed plunger held to slide inthe barrel, upwardly projecting recessed flanges at the rear end of thebarrel, a knife carried by the plunger and extending outward between therecessed flanges, handles secured to the plunger and projecting outwardthrough slots in the barrel, a springpressed trigger pivoted in thehandle, and a pawl carried by the triggerand adapted to engage-a notchin the handle, substantially as described.

4:. A beheading tool, comprising an elongated barrel having a hook orflange at one end and a handleat the other,a breech block for thebarrel, having upwardly projecting parallel'flanges with a recesstherein to receive the neck of a fowl, a spring-pressed plunger in thebarrel, a knife carried by the plunger and projecting between theflanges of the breech block, a spring-pressed trigger pivoted in thehandle of the barrel, and a pawl carried by the trigger andadapted toengage a notch in the plunger, substantially as described.

J OSEPHUS O. DENI-IAM.

Witnesses:

CHAS. STRASSBURGER, J AMES A. BELL.

